The Project Gutenberg EBook of Milton, by John Bailey

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Title: Milton

Author: John Bailey

Release Date: August 9, 2007 [EBook #22286]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MILTON ***

Produced by Al Haines

MILTON

BY

JOHN BAILEY

AUTHOR OF "THE CLAIMS OF FRENCH POETRY,"
"DR. JOHNSON AND HIS CIRCLE," ETC.

LONDON

WILLIAMS AND NORGATE

[Transcriber's note: Page numbers in this book are indicated by numbers
enclosed in curly braces, e.g. {99}. They have been located where page
breaks occurred in the original book, in accordance with Project
Gutenberg's FAQ-V-99. For its Index, a page number has been placed
only at the start of that section.]

First printed Spring 1915

CONTENTS

CHAP.

I INTRODUCTORY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
II MILTON'S LIFE AND CHARACTER . . . . . . . . . . . 28
III THE EARLIER POEMS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
IV _PARADISE LOST_ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
V _PARADISE REGAINED_ AND _SAMSON AGONISTES_ . . . 190
BIBLIOGRAPHY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250
INDEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254

Milton! thou shouldst be living at this hour:
England hath need of thee; she is a fen
Of stagnant waters: altar, sword and pen,
Fireside, the heroic wealth of hall and bower,
Have forfeited their ancient English dower
Of inward happiness. We are selfish men;
Oh! raise us up, return to us again;
And give us manners, virtue, freedom, power.
Thy soul was like a Star, and dwelt apart:
Thou hadst a voice whose sound was like the sea;
Pure as the naked heavens, majestic, free,
So didst thou travel on life's common way,
In cheerful godliness; and yet thy heart
The lowliest duties on herself did lay.
WORDSWORTH.

O Mighty-mouth'd inventor of harmonies,
O skill'd to sing of Time or Eternity,
God-gifted organ-voice of England,
Milton, a name to resound for ages;
Whose Titan angels, Gabriel, Abdiel,
Starr'd from Jehovah's gorgeous armouries,
Tower, as the deep-doomed empyrea